Obituaries (November 2)

Frank Crumb

Utica Saturday Globe, October 1916

 

Frank Crumb

1850-1916

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  Frank Crumb, a leading and well-known resident of the town of Plymouth [Chenango Co., NY], died at his home at Stewart's Corners at an early hour Sunday morning, succumbing to heart trouble with which he was stricken Saturday.  His age was 64.  During his active years deceased had been a prosperous farmer residing in Plymouth.  He was a frequent visitor to this city, where he had a wide acquaintance.  For many years he had been an exhibitor at the Chenango County fair and a prominent horseman.  Politically he was an ardent Republican, but was defeated when he aspired to be elected county superintendent of the poor.  Funeral services were held from his late home a 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, with interment in the cemetery at South Plymouth.  There are no immediate surviving relatives.

 

Rev. Daniel Ballou

The Utica Observer, February 17, 1902

The death of Rev. Daniel Ballou of 16 Kemble St. this city [Utica, Oneida Co., NY], came Sunday morning shortly after 3 o'clock.  Since the middle of January Rev. Mr Ballou had been suffering from pneumonia.  He improved somewhat and it was thought that he was in the fair way to recovery, for he was able to leave his bed and be about his room, but on Wednesday evening last, shortly after he had retired, he relapsed into a semi-conscious state, from which he did not rally.  Uremic poisoning had developed, and it was realized that there was no hope from the moment this symptom presented itself.  The great vitality and strength of the sufferer held him upon the border land between life and death until his strength was at last exhausted.  The funeral of Rev. Mr. Ballou will be held from the Church of the Reconciliation at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon.  His old friend and classmate, Rev. A.J. Canfield of Brooklyn, and who succeeded Rev. Mr. Ballou as the pastor of the Church of the Reconciliation in this city, will be one of the officiating clergymen.  Members of Oriental Lodge, F.&A.M., and all other Masons who wish, will assemble at the Masonic temple and march in a body to the church where the funeral is to be held.

 

Daniel Ballou was born at White Store in the township of Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], Dec. 9, 1833, a son of Sylvanus and Amy Payne Ballou.  His early life was passed upon his father's farm, where his leisure moments were devoted to study, and at the age of 20, he had prepared himself for a course in the theological department of St. Lawrence university at Canton N.Y.  His family had once been affluent, but because of financial reverses, the deceased was compelled to acquire his theological education by his own tact and resource.  In April, 1861, he received from President Ebenezer Fisher, the first diploma ever conferred by a Universalist theological school in America.  Among his classmates who have since achieved distinction is Rev. Dr. James Minton Pullman of Lynn, Mass., a brother of the late George M. P:ullman of Chicago.  Rev. Mr. Ballou's first sermon was preached at Heuseton(?), N.Y., April 17, 1857, while he was still a student at Canton.  His first pastorate was at Oxford, which station he assumed after his graduation in 1861.  It was at Oxford that he was ordained.  After a period of three years he resigned to accept a call to the pastorate of the Church of the Reconciliation in this city.  In 1869 he received a call to the pastorate of the Universalist Church in Indianapolis, Ind., and for one Sunday occupied the pulpit of the church to which he had been invited.  While standing upon the platform of the railroad station, awaiting the coming of the train, which was to bear him eastward, a hurricane swept over the city and the station was wrecked.  Mr. Ballou was buried in the ruins and it was first thought that he had been killed.  Skilled medical attendance and careful nursing were his and in time he was enabled to return to Utica, but for two years was incapacitated and compelled to almost entirely relinquish his mental labors. The injuries which he sustained at that time frequently manifested themselves in the years which followed, but with an energy which seemed tireless and a will indomitable, he worked on until the vital power was exhausted. 

 

Upon the conclusion of his pastorate here and his partial restoration to health, the deceased served as pastor of the Universalist Churches at Rome, Lee Center, Fort Plain, Minden, Sherburne, Poolville, Madison, Frankfort, Mohawk, and in fact, in nearly all the cities and towns of Central New York in which churches of his faith were located.  He built churches at Poolville and Cederville and was ever successful in enlarging the usefulness of the charges with which he was entrusted.  In 18-- he was elected a member of the board of trustees of Clinton Liberal Institute, then located at Clinton, and was instrumental in securing the removal of the school to Fort Plain, where it enjoyed a period of prosperity until its destruction by fire three years ago.  For many years he had been a member of the executive committee and since 1874 the secretary of the board.  The destruction of the school building in which he had taken such a warm pride, came to him in the nature of a personal loss and he labored most earnestly to have the institution rebuilt.  The educational difficulties which his youth had known inspired the unselfish soul which he manifested in instructional affairs and prompted the sacrifice of a generous portion of his time and attention.  Last spring it was decided to make the institute an auxiliary of St. Lawrence University and invest the management to the board of trustees of that institution, and he then turned over his carefully kept records.  A number of years after his graduation, he was honored with election as a manager of the board of trustees of St. Lawrence University and held the office continuously until the time of his death.  He was a life member of the Oneida Historical Society and the interest which he manifested in its welfare proved of great value to the society.  He never forgot the environments of his boyhood and youth, and nature possessed for  him rare charms.  It was this which caused him to become a member of the Central New York Farmers' Club, to participate actively in its discussions and to contribute, from time to time, papers upon subjects ordinarily foreign to men of his calling.  Nature's beauties, blessings and peculiarities found their way into his sermons and into other public addresses.  If he possessed a peculiar gift it was that he was able to bring solace and comfort in time of sorrow; to cheer by word the afflicted and bereaved.  During the course of his ministry he officiated at 4, 710 services of which number 1,173 were funerals.  It was in the performance of his duties that he contracted the ailment which resulted in his death.  While addressing the funeral of a young woman at Middleville early in January he caught a severe cold which resulted in pneumonia.  Ailing, but unwilling to give over, he went to Bridgewater, Jan. 19, where he was to have preached the following day.  Illness overcame him and he returned to the city.  Since that time he had been under medical attendance and confined to his bed until Wednesday afternoon, when he was permitted to sit up for a short time. Soon after he had retired there was a relapse and the physicians who were hastily summoned offered no hope of his recovery.  He sank gradually until the end came.

 

Chenango Telegraph, February 10, 1902

Utica lost one of its most earnest and faithful clergymen in the death of Rev. Daniel Ballou, which occurred at his home, 16 Kemble street in that city, at an early hour Sunday morning.  Rev. Mr. Ballou's immediate illness dated from January 18th when he was stricken with an attack of acute pneumonia, which resulted from a severe cold contracted early in January, while officiating at a funeral in Middletown.

 

Daniel Ballou was born in Norwich, Chenango county, N.Y., December 9, 1838.  Among his ancestors were Hosea Ballou, founder of Universalism in America and Hosea Ballou, long president of Tufts college.  Mr. Ballou lived at Norwich for ten years and then removed to Smithville.  He received a common school education and then went to St. Lawrence university at Canton where he took a three years' course, and graduated form the theological department in 1861.  He was a member of the first graduating class of the university and received the first diploma ever issued by it.  He settled in Oxford, Chenango county, where he was ordained and preached for two years.  In October, 1864, he came to Utica and was made pastor of the Church of the Reconciliation, which he served for about ten years, being followed by Rev. A.J. Canfield, who went later to  Chicago.  When Mr. Ballou took charge of the church of the Reconciliation it had quite a large debt and was not united.  He succeeded in paying this debt, in uniting the congregation and in building a new Sunday school room and chapel.  His health failed him and for nearly six months he was ill with typhoid fever.  During much of this time he was unconscious.  When he recovered it was some time before he could resume his work.  He has continued his residence in Utica ever since, living at No. 16 Kemble street, since 1866.  He had devoted his time and services as an independent missionary in the Universalist church, going about reorganizing old societies, rebuilding churches and organizing new societies.

 

The deceased was a man well known in Norwich, and all through this section as a Christian gentleman not only devoted to his particular creed, but to such good work as he could do.  He was active in education matters, and in the Civil war for the Union he withheld not his hand, having interested himself in the raising of Chenango's One Hundred and Fourteenth.  He was also an active and influential mason, having been initiated in the Oxford lodge.  In 1862 he married Betsey M. Webb of Oxford who survives him with several children.  There are quite a number of his relatives in the county.